Motorola officially introduces the Moto G – a low end smartphone for everyone coming to Australia in January

At their event this morning in São Paulo, Brazil, Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside announced their newest handset the Moto G. The phone according to Mr Woodside is definitely aimed at the lower end of the handset range.

The Moto G is focusing on giving a great experience to customers who can’t afford the highest end handset or want a smaller handset. Mr Woodside says the ‘Moto G offers a premium experience at less than one third of the price of high end devices’.

Hardware

Charlie Tritschler, Product Manager Motorola Mobility, listed off the specifics of the device starting with the Waterpoof Nano-Coating included in the phone to help make the device a bit ‘life proof’. The phone still contains high quality components including a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Quad-Core SoC, 1GB of RAM with a 4.5″ 720p HD Display right up front with a 5MP Camera on the rear.

4.5″ 1280×720 HD 329 ppi display

Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU

1GB RAM

8/16GB Storage with Two years 50 GB storage free on Google Drive(65GB total)

5MP Rear Camera with 1.3MP Front-Facing Camera

GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA+ up to 21 Mbps as well as CDMA/EVDO Rev A

WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/GLONASS

Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean)

129.9×65.9 mmx6.0-11.6 mm (curved) @ 143 grams

Built-in rechargeable 2070 mAh lithium-ion battery

Notably as you can see, there was absolutely no mention of 4G/LTE support on the Moto G, making the HSPA+ the only option for the Moto G in Australia. The phone will be SIM unlocked when made available and come in Single and Dual-SIM configurations in certain markets.

Meet Moto G

Customisation and Accessories

The Moto G will not be as heavily customizable as the Moto X that was introduced to the US earlier this year but will include 19 customization options including Removeable Backs called ‘Motorola Shells’ available in 7 colours – Black, White ‘Chalk’, Cherry, Lemon Lime, Turquoise and Violet, coloured Flip Shells which are smart covers for the Moto G as well as Coloured ‘Active Grips’ which are bumper like accessories.
They are also going to be offering accessories such as wired and un-wired earphones, wireless speaker from JBL and Motorola power packs for charging on the Go.

Software Features

Punit Somni Software Product Management, Motorola Mobility listed some of the software features of the device which unfortunately didn’t list Moto X specific features such as the Active listening, or the wrist gesture Quick Capture to activate the camera, nor did the phone seem to come with Active Notifications, what he did spruik was the fact that the Moto G comes with Android 4.3 but with a guaranteed upgrade to Android 4.4 which he promised will be delivered to handsets by January 2014.

Features such as the Motorola Migrate software which will help you to migrate your settings and contacts from other phones as well as Motorola Assist a service to help personalise your software.

The Moto G will also come with 50GB Google Drive on top of the 15GB standard Google Drive space that all users receive giving a total of 65GB in total.

Price and Availability

The Moto G will come with two options for storage 8GB or 16GB all at the low price of US$179 for the 8GB version and US $199 for the 16GB version, no local pricing has been announced for the device at this stage

Availability for the Moto G seems to concentrate on markets less travelled with the Moto G available in Brazil and parts of Europe from today and then in Latin America, Europe, Canada and parts of Asia in the next few weeks.

The Moto G will then expand availability to the US, India, the Middle East and more of Asia in early January for a total of more than 30 countries with 60 partners by 2014.

As you can see from the above screen capture, Australia and New Zealand appear to have been listed in the second batch, so we will see the Moto G on Australian shores in early 2014 if you’re interested in the Moto G.

Daniel Tyson

Dan is a die-hard Android fan. Some might even call him a lunatic. He's been an Android user since Android was a thing, and if there's a phone that's run Android, chances are he owns it (his Nexus collection is second-to-none) or has used it.

Dan's dedication to Ausdroid is without question, and he has represented us at some of the biggest international events in our industry including Google I/O, Mobile World Congress, CES and IFA.

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Matt

I was turned off by the rumours but it’s a nice tight little device. Compare this to a Nexus 4 for example, even at the sell out prices. This is a steal. Will strongly consider one of these for my mum if she’s happy with it.

I think this is a great device… Although i won’t be buying it as the main features of the Moto X aren’t there.

The lack of LTE doesn’t bother me, like it seems to bother others.
It’s the lack of active listening that i’d trade the Nexus 5 in for this phone.
Active notifications can be added by the third party Dynamic Notification app (great app for any OLED screen).

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5 years ago

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Nick Bryant

I still think Australia might see the Moto X, given the piles of them sitting unsold in U.S. warehouses.

This is a smart move by Motorola to compete with Nokia in the budget space. I suspect folk that prefer Android on a budget have looked longingly at phones like the Lumia 520 & 620 and wondered where the colorful, good performing Android equivalent is. The Moto G looks like the answer to me.

There’s one thing you’re forgetting: The Nokia Lumia 520 runs Windows Phone 8, which is about as appealing as sleeping in a mudhole.

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5 years ago

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JeniSkunk

In a market where 4G has become the norm offered by carriers, you’re going to release a 3G phone, late, AFTER Xmas and the post-Xmas $ale$, when folks won’t have the cash to buy. Good going Googlrola.
So third-world countries are going to be given the Moto G before AU. Good going Googlrola.
So you’re determined to not give AU the REAL Moto X, but rather, a watered down, features shredited, lower grade copy in its place. Good going Googlrola.

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5 years ago

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Happy Dog

Fat depressed people always have negative comments. Australia doesn’t seem like the market for Motorola to start with. Just go but a nexus if you are indeed of a phone